Pelham City Council member Ron Scott says the new Commercial Development Authority will help attract business opportunities to the community.

PELHAM, Alabama -- The City of Pelham has created a board that will promote economic activity
and development opportunities in the community.

The Pelham City Council on Monday night approved the formation
of the Commercial Development Authority and appointed the first five members to
serve on the board.

The board members include Clay Alford, Tim Alford (who
has no relation to Clay), Tracey Morant Adams, Thomas A. Martin and Lenny Glynn.

Following terms established by Alabama law, the council decided Martin and
Adams will serve until March 2015, while the others will serve until March
2017. The City Council can reappoint them to serve on the board.

Councilman Ron Scott, who has been instrumental in
forming the board, said the city will benefit from the panel that will work on attracting
business opportunities.

"We'd like for developers to have a board other than the
council to come and address and maybe expedite some of the activity on
commercial development in the city. We'd like for this board to begin to do
some promotional activities and to identify key sites in the community that
would be prime for development," he said.

He pointed to the expertise of the board members,
including Tim Alford, who is serving as interim superintendent of the Pelham
Board of Education. "Dr. Alford established the Industrial Development Board
while he was mayor of Enterprise. He understands the process," Scott said.

"Tracey is a citizen of Pelham who has a career history
with AT&T and also served as the head of the City of Birmingham's economic
development office," he said. "They all bring something different to the table."

The board's formation followed discussions over the past
few months among the council about retooling the city's Industrial Development
Authority board, which had been inactive for years. Scott said he hopes the new
board will meet monthly, if not more.